Stevie Wonder Attempts To Clarify Frank Ocean Sexuality Comments

Last week, writer Paul Lester asked Stevie Wonder about Frank Ocean. This should’ve been a pretty innocuous question, a chance for an elder statesman genius to say something nice about a young artist who’s doing great work while clearly staying under Wonder’s influence. That’s not exactly what happened. Wonder did say, “I like Frank,” but he also offered this:

I think honestly, some people who think they’re gay, they’re confused. People can misconstrue closeness for love. People can feel connected, they bond. I’m not saying all [gay people are confused]. Some people have a desire to be with the same sex. But that’s them.”

Yikes, Stevie Wonder! That comment came from a profile that ran in The Guardian on Thursday. And over the weekend, he made a statement to MTV News in which he attempted to clear up what he’d said:

I’m sorry that my words about anyone feeling confused about their love were misunderstood. No one has been a greater advocate for the power of love in this world than I; both in my life and in my music. Clearly, love is love, between a man and a woman, a woman and a man, a woman and a woman and a man and a man. What I’m not confused about is the world needing much more love, no hate, no prejudice, no bigotry and more unity, peace and understanding. Period.

That doesn’t seem like what you were trying to say, Stevie Wonder! But we might just have to accept it, since nobody wants to live in a world where Stevie Wonder is a homophobic dickbag.

The ‘homophobic dickbag’ is often referred to as a person lacking perspective or understanding of the gay community. They are most commonly found in Chick Fil A’s but have also been spotted as far north as Harvey’s.

Where in that statement did he “broadly” question the legitimacy of homosexuality? Are you saying – and please back this up with facts – that there aren’t people who struggle with their sexuality? Because, that’s total bull.

It was just a strange response to the question The Guardian posed, which was, “Was [Wonder] surprised that there could, in 2012, be a furore at the revelation that a rapper might be gay?” I have a feeling his response was taken somewhat out of context. His response doesn’t follow the question that he was supposedly asked, leading me to think that this quote came up at some point in the conversation and the journalist lazily paired it with a question that was never directly asked.

However, questioning whether people who identify themselves as gay truly are gay is a display of ignorance. It’s condescending to the gay community. It’s spouting an opinion that reflects lack of understanding about LGBT issues, which equates to homophobia. You’re on the losing end of an argument if you think otherwise. The question is whether or not this is truly what he was saying.

Well, Anne Heche would beg to differ with you (she says she was insane during her relationship with Ellen – is that an insult to the LGBT community?), so would my sister – who claimed she was gay for years, and then one day said that she wasn’t sure, then decided she wasn’t interested in sex at all – and NOW says she’s gay again and has been committed to her partner for three years now. The definition of homophobia doesn’t include questioning if a person is truly gay or not. It can mean hate, intolerance, violence, fear – the same as racism. Wonder’s words don’t traffic in any of that . Sexuality can be complicated and confusing – unlike the color of someone’s skin.

Okay well let’s say you really like Centipede Hz. You’re all about Centipede Hz and everything about it and you think that it’s better than all the other Animal Collective albums. For some reason, your favorite thing to do is listen to it while jumping on your bed in a night gown that would probably be more fitting on an elderly woman. You’re entitled to this. It’s part of who you are. Then I come along. I don’t really Centipede Hz, but I haven’t really spent all that much time trying to understand it and, quite frankly, I don’t really care to. I certainly don’t understand why you would jump on your bed in an old lady’s nightie while you listen to it. It’s foreign to me. So my response to you is, “maybe you don’t actually know what you like”. Do you see how that’s condescending? It’s almost as condescending as my usage of this metaphor.

bullshit. like sigler here, i too have known people who thought they might be gay, only to later say that they are straight and were all along. granted, they never came out as gay, and had they done so i’d never question that. but i would imagine (and no, i can’t relate) that having those types of feelings in the first instance would be a confusing time in a young person’s life – so what’s wrong with calling it just that, confusing? merely questioning something should not yield the conclusion that one is a homophobic bigot.

and listening to anco while wearing granny’s nightgown has nothing to do with anything.

I know sexuality is a gray area. It’s not black and white. There are a wide range of identities therein. I’m saying that, within the context of this article, there is something really dismissive about saying “a lot of gays are just confused” when asked to share an opinion about the reaction to Frank Ocean being gay. There is nothing wrong with stating the fact that people are in fact confused about their sexual identities, but that’s not what they have Wonder saying here.

I’m also not conceding that this is even what Stevie Wonder said. I’m saying that what the article is making him say IS, in fact, homophobic within the context that it is presented. And there’s no question about it. The context in which he actually said those words may have not been homophobic at all in reality. But the article made him look homophobic. That is all I’m saying.

“there is something really dismissive about saying “a lot of gays are just confused”.”

Seems that YOU are the one that’s not reading here. It’s very short and my six-year old can read it:

“I think honestly, SOME people who think they’re gay, they’re confused. People can misconstrue closeness for love. People can feel connected, they bond. I’m not saying all [gay people are confused]. Some people have a desire to be with the same sex. But that’s them.”

Also, given the long history of misogyny, violence and homophobia in the rap community, I don’t think that’s an unfair thing for Stevie to ponder at all. Rappers haven’t shown a great deal of “tolerance” to anyone.

I have agreed with you multiple times that Wonder’s quote by itself is not homophobic, but the context makes it so it can be construed as such.

What I am saying: It can be read as homophobic within the context of The Guardian article, but there is a possibility they took his quote out of context. There is a possibility he did not mean anything homophobic by it.

What you are saying: It can never be interpreted as homophobic by anyone because the dictionary says so.

I’d say we should agree to disagree but we’re not even completely disagreeing. This is the last I will say on the matter.

False. I went to high school with a girl who thought she was bisexual and bedded other females during a confused, rebellious phase which also involved cutting herself. Now she is happily married to a man and considers herself heterosexual.

Some of you guys are way too eager to make this a black-and-white sort of deal. “Anyone who thinks it is possible for a young person to be sexually confused is a hater!” Well, no, not really.

I would imagine that people who are toward the middle of Kinsey scale tend to experience a bit of sexual confusion during their adolescent years…before coming to the conclusion that they are bisexual and being able to admit it to themselves.

Perhaps, but Frank said very plainly that he was in love with a man. There is no confusion involved in the issue at hand, and to bring that up is ignorant and hurtful on Stevie’s part. Not sure how you can argue that. I don’t think he’s a homophobic d*ckbag, however. LOL. Just ignorant. He should have said “love is love” in the first place.

All you have to do is substitute “straight” for “gay” in his comments to realize how patronizing his remarks are. You would never imply that people who experience opposite-sex attraction might just be confused about it.

Not necessarily true. I thought about the same thing, that is, inserting “straight” for “gay” and ended with the opposite conclusion. A lot of straight people are confused about their sexuality and I don’t see how it is in anyway patronizing to say that..

Also, more generally, this whole thing really seems like toe stepping. No one can say anything now without it being considered some sort of prejudice or hate. People crusade against the craziest shit. Wonder’s comments, if one considers them homophobic, are still way done the list of homophobic problems in this world.

And really, Tom’s comment that implies Wonder might be a “homophobic dickbag” seems more hate filled than anything in Wonder’s quote. Not only is it awful to wonder, but the very phrasing reveals a linguistically inscribed homophobia. If being a dickbag is a bad thing, then I imagine liking dicks is a bad thing, then i imagine gay people are a bad thing, then i am a homophobic dickbag…oh wait…

Speaking of the devil, can someone tell the GAP that this “Styld by” campaign is a complete failure? And to anyone who’s thinking of responding like, “well, it got you talking about it” – it got me hating it, i haven’t clicked on it, and i’m losing respect for all entities involved. Plug that in to your marketing impressions metrics.

I would like to offer (AND I’D LIKE TO SPECIFY DEVIL’S ADVOCATE STATUS) that I don’t think Wonder’s comment was homophobic. I also don’t think Wonder was, as Perez Hilton intimated, “imply[ing] a heterosexual loves their Cherie amour more authentically than a homosexual loves the sunshine of THEIR life”.

Does anybody bat an eye when someone implies a heterosexual person might have homosexual leanings? I think — the amount of intolerance in this country notwithstanding — it’s not any more offensive to offer the opinion that “not all gay people are truly gay” as it is to offer “not all straight people are truly straight”.

Pay attention Nathan, they called Stevie a dickbag. So Stevie would be a bag that could potentially contain dicks, but not the dicks themselves. So for that bag holding the dicks wouldn’t be gay cuz it’s its job, kind of like a doctor.

You were cool when your arguments weren’t diminuative of others, but now you’re kinda sounding like a D-Bag. On the other hand, you’re a very firm supporter of S. Wonder and contextual journalism on a music website, so that’s pretty kewl.

As others have pointed out, the fact that Stevie called homosexuality itself — not just Frank Ocean’s orientation — into question is a very mild (but still tangible) form of contempt and aversion. If Ocean had said he loved a woman rather than a man, Stevie wouldn’t have said “well, some people think they’re straight but are confused”. But it’s “homophobic” in the same way that murder and driving 60 in a 55 zone are both “criminal”.

There’s nothing complicated about this, jackass. It’s simple, you just want it to be complicated so that you have something to bitch about. If you want to add your own meaning to things that aren’t there, go right ahead – i’m sure Wikipedia welcomes your ideas on what’s intolerant speech. I can’t find any definition that lists “questioning if one is truly gay” as homophobic. Like racism and sexism, people have decided to attach so much to the words that EVERYTHING is now racist, sexist and homophobic .

When asked about someone’s “coming out” (not officially announced that he’s gay but he did publicly say he loved a man) it is rather ignorant to immediately suggest that they are confused. Yes, he said “some” people, but the question is about Frank Ocean and that’s immediately where he went. No, he’s not a homophobe for that, we agree there, but you are defending him as if there is nothing remotely insulting or wrong about it. And there is.

Exactly. I think that’s really the only real issue here: What’s the basis for Stevie Wonder question Frank Ocean’s sexuality at all? Unless they’ve been close friends for awhile, I don’t see how Stevie could possibly have a reason to suggest Frank Ocean is confused. Why would he even mention it?

Some people are so touchy. What he said was not against gay people at all. All he said is that some people who claim their gay could just be confused which is true. I’m sure there are gay people who are just confused about their sexuality. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

It’s homophobic in the sense that it is heteronormative. The first question to ask when someone professes their love for the same sex shouldn’t be “you sure you’re gay, bro?” It implies that the standard is to be straight and his assumed sexual orientation is a mistake or misinterpretation.

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